Social Action
A wide range of opportunities encourages members at CSAIR to engage in Tikkun Olam, repair of the world. These social action projects connect us to people within and outside our community.
Here is a sample of our programs:
- Bikkur Cholim: Visiting the ill
- Hevrat Menahem Avelim: Comforting mourners
- Interfaith Clergy Conference Thanksgiving Service
- Interfaith Caregivers Program: Assisting others in need
- Project Hope: Delivering holiday packages at Chanukah and at Passover to the homebound elderly
- Food Pantry Collections
- FEGS Partnership – Chanukah and Passover Parties for Developmentally Challenged Adults
- Riverdale Jewish Community Council
Israel Action
Lifeline to Israel: Raising money for projects in Israel, together with other Riverdale synagogues and institutions:
- Israel Scouts
- Trips to Israel
- Salute to Israel Parade
- Israel Fair
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Student Israel Scholarships
The Masorti Conservative Movement in Israel
CSAIR Comes Through For Haiti Relief
Just minutes before Shabbat, on Friday, January 22, Rabbi Katz received an e-mail. Forty-four hours later, the CSAIR community had filled 18 large boxes with baby bottles, diapers and formula, and raised more than $3,700 for the victims of the Haitian earthquake. That’s the short version.
Here’s what happened: Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the Pastor of the New Life International Outreach Church, and his daughter, Lisette, went to Haiti shortly after the earthquake struck. They went with suitcases filled with medical supplies and hearts filled with the faith that they would find their way to be of help. After a six hour drive from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince, they met up with a group of Haitian-American doctors from the Bronx. The doctors were looking for a secure place to live so they could volunteer their services for the victims. Together with the Pastor and his daughter, they found a building that could house 13 doctors. They now needed cash and supplies to make this plan work, and they returned to the Bronx to start collecting both. That’s where CSAIR came in.
Because of the church’s long-standing relationship with CSAIR, Lisette wrote Rabbi Katz asking for our help. With just 5 minutes before the start of Shabbat, Rabbi Katz left messages for Lisette and her father inviting them to come to shul on Shabbat morning if they could. He promised them an opportunity to speak to our congregation. Lisette came, she spoke, and the immediate response was overwhelming. People responded to her appeal with questions, ideas, offers and, most of all, an overwhelming desire to help.
So, here’s what happened next….
- From the bimah, Rabbi Katz announced that we would be collecting supplies and money on Sunday morning between 9 am and noon.
- Saturday night Executive Director Eric Nussbaum sent out an e-blast from CSAIR Social Action Chair Miriam Westheimer.
- A few hours later, at the Men’s Club annual Rock and Roll Party, featuring the Traveling Jewburys, Rabbi Katz suggested that a jar be passed around. $450 was collected in that jar! And that night an additional $250 was donated by a CSAIR Bat Mitzvah girl.
- The next morning people started pouring into the synagogue. Cases of formula, boxes of bottles and diapers piled up on the table in the lobby quicker than we could pack them.
- The generosity of our community was overwhelming. With gifts ranging from $1 to $540, we collected over $3,000 by noon.
- At the same time, our Hebrew school kids were baking brownies and cookies to sell at pick up time. They raised $384 for the American Jewish World Service Haiti Relief Fund.
- And, at 4 pm, Lisette and a few of New Life’s younger (and stronger) congregants came by to pack up the goods, take our check for the contributions, and continue to make their plans to return to Haiti with these much-needed supplies
The combined effort from our shul was so immediate and impressive – everyone should feel proud about how the CSAIR community came through!
Click here to see footage shot by Lisette Cabrera in Haiti: